- Département
- Ardennes
- Site
- Argonne Ardennaise, on the border with the Meuse département, 11 km west of Stenay
- Inhabitants
- 26 (as of 1 January 2023)
- Source
- Wikipedia, eigene Zusammenfassung
A tiny forest village in the Ardennes département, on the border with the Meuse. Not a champagne village, but with its abbey and wildlife park it is worth a visit for anyone travelling off the beaten track, away from the vineyard slopes.
Location
Belval-Bois-des-Dames lies in the north of France in the Ardennes département, right on the border with the Meuse département. Stenay is eleven kilometres away. Administratively, the commune belongs to the arrondissement of Vouziers and to the Argonne Ardennaise community of communes. Neighbouring villages include Beaumont-en-Argonne, Nouart and Vaux-en-Dieulet.
The commune is very sparsely populated: 26 inhabitants were counted in 2023, around 21 per cent fewer than in 2017. Almost two thirds of the land is covered by forest, with meadows and a few ponds besides, among them the Grand étang at 16.6 hectares. The Wame, a stream ten kilometres long, rises within the commune and joins the Meuse near Létanne.
Champagne and wine
Here is something wine lovers should know: Belval-Bois-des-Dames is not a wine-growing village. It is neither grand cru nor premier cru, and the Ardennes département lies outside the Champagne appellation. The name Champagne-Ardenne referred only to the former administrative region, which existed until 2016; today the village belongs to the Grand Est region. Anyone arriving here will find forest and pasture rather than rows of vines.
The name Champagne-Ardenne referred only to the former administrative region, which existed until 2016; today the village belongs to the Grand Est region.
The climate is harsh. The nearest weather station, in Buzancy, eight kilometres away, records an average of 10.9 °C and a good 860 millimetres of rainfall a year. Fog is common in autumn and winter.
History
The name goes back to the abbey of Belval and the village of Bois-des-Dames. In Old French, Belval roughly means "beautiful valley". In field and place names, the "Dames" often refers to the nuns of a convent, and the wood probably belonged to the abbey.
Around 1892, excavations near Montretemps uncovered Roman statues, probably from a fortified settlement of late antiquity. There may once have been a temple of Mithras there. On 29 August 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, the skirmish of Bois-des-Dames took place.
Sights
- The abbey of Belval-Bois-des-Dames, built in the 18th century and protected as a monument historique since 1991.
- The Parc de Bel-Val, an estate of 1,200 hectares. The businessman and hunter François Sommer (1904 to 1973) had it created to reintroduce animal species that once lived in the region.
- The Roman finds of 1892, now on display in the Musée de l'Ardenne in Charleville-Mézières.
Maximin Legros, a general of the Republic in the war in the Vendée, was also born in Belval-Bois-des-Dames, in 1750.
For a champagne trip, the village is not a stop in the strict sense. But anyone wanting to explore the Ardennes and the Argonne will find peace, nature and history here. The vineyard slopes of Champagne lie further south.
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